


Her Only Protection

by flipflop_diva



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Prostitution, F/M, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Oral Sex, Vaginal Fingering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-22 17:39:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11385123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: She could sense him watching her, even if she couldn’t see him, watching her as she slid the brush through her long red hair before pulling it up and securing it loosely atop her head, make sure a few tendrils fell down in soft curls in just the right way. Then she turned to her makeup, applying it carefully until her face was painted in a series of unnatural colors that the men she would entertain tonight would love.“You look beautiful,” he said softly, “but you look more beautiful without that on.”(A Steve/Nat dystopian AU where prostitution is normal)





	Her Only Protection

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Karmageddon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karmageddon/gifts).



> Written for Karmageddon for the MCU AU 2017 fest. 
> 
> We matched on dystopian AU but Karmegeddon had a fun prompt for prostitution: _As high-end escorts, they're meant to sell the illusion of love and passion. They didn't expect to find it, especially with each other. (best friends who work at the same firm)_. This is sort of a combination of both of those in a way that's not exactly like either of them.

She could sense him watching her, even if she couldn’t see him, watching her as she slid the brush through her long red hair before pulling it up and securing it loosely atop her head, make sure a few tendrils fell down in soft curls in just the right way. Then she turned to her makeup, applying it carefully until her face was painted in a series of unnatural colors that the men she would entertain tonight would love.

She was just finishing up with the dark red lipstick when he finally slipped from the shadows, walking up behind her and resting a hand on her arm.

“You look beautiful,” he said softly, “but you look more beautiful without all that on.”

She smiled softly, turning to look at him with a soft laugh. “You are the only one who thinks that.”

“The others don’t see you the way I do.”

“Mmmm.” She made a soft humming sound under her breath, lifting herself from her chair to peck him softly on the cheek before wiping off the red mark she left behind with her hand.

She made a move to slip around him, but he caught her wrist before she could get very far.

“Be careful out there,” he said, his gentle voice suddenly serious, his eyes not leaving hers, not even to blink.

“You know I always am,” she said, keeping her tone light, but she didn’t miss the way his eyes darkened. 

He wasn’t stupid. She knew he knew that sometimes the men were a little too rough with her. A little too demanding. But she also knew there was nothing he — nor she — could do about it. This was the world they had been unlucky enough to be born into. 

Society had strict rules to keep everyone in line. It had to be this way, the higher ups always proclaimed, because years ago, when there were no rules, a bunch of renegades had gone wild and destroyed nearly everything.

Superheroes, she heard some people call them, the ones who whispered the old legends under their breaths when they thought they wouldn’t be overheard. People who had powers or unnatural abilities. Some people believed they still existed, just biding their time until they could take over the world again.

That’s how Steve, the only friend she had ever had, was here. He was born with a strength that no one could explain. His mother had managed to keep it a secret for years, but one day a bully at his school had gone too far and Steve had stepped in, his anger overriding his fear of keeping his secret.

He had been sent off to Headquarters that same afternoon. And now he was watched, carefully, to make sure he wouldn’t get out of control, given a serum every day that kept him weak.

But the serum didn’t make him slow, and Steve used his time at Headquarters to wonder around, slipping in and out of people’s sight. That’s how he had found her.

She wasn’t special, though. Far from it. She was just a boring girl, an orphan of the state. Her parents, whoever they were, had abandoned her in a basket in front of Headquarters when she was a week old. She’d been there ever since, forever reminded that she was going to spend every day in debt to the people who let her live and kept her fed. Steve always said she didn’t owe anything to anyone, but she knew better. 

Steve was still holding on to her wrist, still staring at her with that penetrating look he had.

“Be careful anyway,” he said briskly and he let go of her. 

She usually tried to assuage his fears by teasing him, but this time, it felt wrong. Judging by the seriousness on his face, he was really worried about her. He usually was, though. It had been disconcerting at first, but now, it was almost nice. She had never had anyone worry about her before Steve. She had never even had anyone care about her, as long as she did her job. The times she had failed, then they had cared.

She reached up a hand to touch his cheek. “I will,” she said.

Before he could say another word, there was a loud, pounding knock on her door.

Steve nodded at her as she waited for him to slip out the other door. She wasn’t allowed to have anyone in her room when she was getting ready for a job, and if they ever caught them together …

She opened the door to Brock Rumlow, her handler.

“What took you so long?” he demanded, eyeing her over as if he thought she was going to embarrass him and the City.

She lowered her eyes. She wasn’t allowed to make eye contact with people above her. “I am sorry,” she said softly. “It won’t happen again.”

“You bet it won’t.” He grabbed her arm, much rougher that Steve had earlier. She feared his fingers might leave bruises she would have to cover with makeup for the rest of the week. 

•••

Steve was waiting for her when she got back, sitting in the far corner of her room where he could easily slip out of sight if anyone but her came in.

He stood up when she entered and walked over to her. She watched as his mouth tightened and his eyes narrowed as he looked her over. She also didn’t miss his hands curling into fists by his side.

“He hurt you,” he practically growled.

Natasha shook her. “No,” she said. “He was nice.”

He was. His name was Anthony Stark. She had been sent to him before. He was one of the richest men on the planet. The City did anything he asked, and they always made sure to send him girls — and sometimes men. She knew Steve had been sent to him before as well — as often as he wanted to keep him happy.

She didn’t mind, though. He was one of the better clients she was sent to. He had never been anything less than respectful to her, even when she was naked on top of him or he had his dick in her mouth.

Steve was still looking her over, his fists clenching even tighter, if that were possible.

“Rumlow hurt you.” He almost snarled the words.

Natasha slipped past him to the closet, to pull out her nightclothes. “It’s fine,” she said, purposely not looking at him.

Steve spun her around — not roughly, the way Rumlow had earlier, but gently. Carefully he brushed her hair back off her shoulders, then slid his hands up her arms.

She shivered slightly at his touch. She knew she could stop him if she wanted to — she wasn’t as weak as people assumed, and Steve would never do anything she wasn’t completely comfortable with — but standing there, feeling him slide his fingers under the thin straps of her dress before pulling them off her shoulders, she found she didn’t want to move, even if she could feel her stomach tightening into a ball of knots over what was going to happen in just a few seconds.

He reached behind her to find the zipper of her dress, tugging it down. She stayed still as the gold material slid off her arms and down her body to pool at her feet.

Too late, she changed her mind about what she was letting Steve do and lifted her arms to wrap around herself, but she wasn’t quick enough to cover the bruises peeking out below her bra or the ones on her belly.

“I’m going to kill him,” Steve practically hissed.

She shook her head. “You can’t,” she said. “You know that.”

“I can’t do nothing,” he said, and her heart almost broke at the pain in his words. 

“You have to,” she said. “If you do anything — if you tell anyone you know — they’ll send you away.” She paused, gathering all her courage. “And I don’t think I could stand that.”

He blinked at her.

Steve always told her how grateful he was to have her, but Natasha had never before expressed any similar sentiment. She had been taught that she wasn’t allowed to care about anyone. That she was to need no one. All she needed was to do her job. And Steve had always said he understood that.

But now he was looking at her like she had just given him the most amazing gift.

He leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers. She gasped. He pulled back instantly.

“I’m sorry,” he said hurriedly. “I shouldn’t have … I should …”

She reached out a hand, placed it on his arm.

“No,” she said. “I liked it.”

She didn’t have to tell him no one who wasn’t paying the City had ever kissed her before. And even with the men who paid for it, it wasn’t like that. They usually slobbered into her mouth before pawing off her clothes.

“Are you sure?”

Natasha glanced over at her tiny bed in the corner of her room, a thought blooming in her mind.

“Do you want to stay with me tonight?” she asked softly. She could feel her cheeks growing warm as the words left her mouth, but as he understood what she was asking, Steve’s whole face lit up and a smile — a real smile — broke across his face.

“There is nothing I would like more,” he said.

Natasha nodded. She reached up behind her to remove her bra so she could finish getting ready for bed.

Steve’s words stopped her. “Let me?”

Natasha dropped her arms to her sides. Steve moved closer, their bodies practically touching. He placed his hands, which were always warm — she was never sure if it was because of the serum or because of the powers the City couldn’t entirely take away — on her hips, before moving them up her sides and around her back.

She heard the tiny click of the garment unsnapping before her breasts sprang free as the material slid off her arms and joined her dress on the ground.

“You’re beautiful,” Steve said.

He dropped to his knees in front of her, his hands once more finding her hips. Natasha shivered as he pressed his lips first to her belly button then to the scar above her left hip, the one she had once told him had been caused by the City’s enforcer.

His hands started to move, running over her belly, around to her back, smoothing over her ass and then he was gripping the sides of her panties, pulling them down inch by inch, kissing down her pelvis and the red curls between her legs, pecking the inside of her thighs, until, finally, she was bared to him, all her clothes a tangle at her feet.

He tapped her thighs, indicating what he wanted, and she complied, stepping out of her clothes as she spread her legs, giving him a better view of her as he nuzzled against the apex of her thighs.

“Steve,” she whispered. She leaned over to try and grab a handful of his clothes, but he reached up and gripped her hand, holding her fingers.

“No,” he said. “I want to take care of you. No one has ever taken care of you before.”

Natasha felt her mouth go dry. She had once told Steve she didn’t know what an orgasm felt like. She had given men more than she could count, but no one had ever cared if she came.

But now, Steve was pressing the length of his tongue to her folds and she gasped at the sensation.

He took his time, licking and nibbling and exploring. She wound a hand into his hair, feeling her legs grow weaker by the second, a heat she had never felt before pooling in her belly.

She could barely stand by the time he slipped two fingers inside her, and she had to bend over, so she was almost lying across his head. 

It didn’t seem to bother Steve. He kept his fingers moving, pumping in and out of her in a rhythm she couldn’t seem to decipher — first long and slow and then fast and hard — while his lips found her clit and fastened themselves around it.

Natasha felt like she was going to explode. Her whole body felt coiled up like a spring, and sounds she didn’t know she could make were escaping her lips as she wriggled against Steve, trying to get even more friction than he was giving her.

Steve thrust his fingers into her harder, and Natasha groaned, feeling tears spring to her eyes. She felt frozen in place, her body no longer in her control, and then, before she even had time to cry out, Steve bit down on her clit, hard, his fingers inside her twisting roughly, and she screamed, her whole body clenching before she was shuddering around him, all her nerves and muscles on overdrive as the world around her seemed to disappear in a haze of pleasure so intense she had never imagined anything like it.

By the time she came back to herself, Steve was carrying her over to the small bed, laying her down carefully. She scooted to one side to make room for Steve, letting him slip in beside her. 

It was a tight squeeze, both of them pressed together. He slipped an arm around her head and shoulders and pulled her against him.

She closed her eyes for a moment, relishing the feel. She had never lain with any man before. The men she serviced always sent her home as soon as they were done with her.

“Was that okay?” Steve asked her once they were comfortable and she had opened her eyes again.

“I think that was the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” she said, and she meant it.

She could see the relief in Steve’s eyes, like he had been worried she would reject him. 

“I’d like to do it again some time,” he said, almost hesitantly.

“I’d like to do it again a lot of times,” Natasha said. She reached up to place her fingers on his lips. “But you have to let me take care of you, too.”

Steve looked uncertain. “I don’t want you to think it’s your job.”

“You’re not a job, Steve,” she said. She took a moment to find the right words. She settled on, “I care about you. A lot.”

He smiled. “I more than care about you,” he said quietly. “I think you know that.”

Natasha nodded. She did.

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes. Her head was starting to feel heavy, her eyelids starting to droop.

It didn’t take long for Steve to notice. He pulled her tighter against him, letting her rest her head on his chest.

“Just sleep, Nat,” he said. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

She wanted to tell him that wasn’t a good idea, she wanted to tell him they shouldn’t risk Rumlow finding them, but he felt too good, she felt too safe, so instead, for the first time in her life, she drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.

They would worry about everything else in the morning.


End file.
